Poisoned
by Lieutenant Side Salad
Summary: When Rythian is kidnapped by Lalna and Nano, Zoey and Teep go to rescue him. Upon bringing him back, Zoey realizes that something is wrong with him; He's changed. One-sided Zoethian fic.


The first day he came back, I could tell that something had changed. But that was understandable; A normal person didn't come back from being kidnapped, and possibly tortured, completely fine. So, I let it slide and patiently waited for the old Rythian to make his reappearance.

After a while I began to wonder if he would ever go back to normal. I tried not to think about, because this was still understandable, right? Surely, it was normal for someone to be this scarred by a trauma like that. He never told me exactly what went on while he was trapped in Pandalabs, so I could only speculate about what Lalna and Nano could have done to him that would cause him to act like this.

At some point, I decided that it couldn't have just been the kidnapping that had bothered him so deeply. Rythian was tougher than that, something like this should only have kept him down a for a short time. It was also around that time that I finally started paying closer attention to him...and that's when I realized something very, very serious was wrong. Not at first, of course, but over time I could pick out little things that piled my worries higher and higher.

The first sign of a "new Rythian" was the way he acted, obviously. The dark mage was always a little touchy and he never truly got the hang of showing his positive emotions to me, but I could practically feel his warmth towards me once we got closer. When you live with someone you tend to understand them better, so I was used to the subtle movements that were his way of communicating delicate subjects like love. With this new Rythian...I couldn't feel him anymore. Any movements around me were quick and curt, and he would never stay near me for long.

The second thing I noticed that was wrong was his sudden interest in everything I did. Rythian hated science, that was a basic concept I'd been aware of for nearly as long as I'd known him. After the nuke went off, and I had recovered, he grew more lenient with my studies and finally accepted that I could study both magic _and _science and still be his apprentice. But he still refused to have anything to do with my projects, that is, until this point. From time to time I would look up from my work to find him watching me through narrowed eyes, and sometimes if I left for a bit, I would catch him examining whatever machine I had been working on. These actions baffled me, but I still pushed my doubt aside. I would think to myself, _Perhaps he's softening up! Maybe one day we can build something together._

It was in my nature to stay optimistic during rough times. I played in a band while being imprisoned by Jeff, and I promised Rythian that I would be fine defusing the nuke, even though I knew that my skills alone wouldn't be enough. This time was no different and as my companion started acting stranger, it took all of my effort to pretend like nothing had changed between us. The third instance was the straw that broke the camels back, the thing that made me realize that I couldn't keep up this charade when things were so obviously wrong. The new Rythian didn't go adventuring with me as much, and on the few occasions that he did I could tell that his heart wasn't in it, so on this particular day I had just returned from one of my lonely, solo missions. Something about our home seemed off, but I couldn't waste time on figuring out what it was, because something about Rythian had changed too; He seemed more like his old self.

We ate dinner together and shared a heartfelt conversation for once, my heart had soared. _I was right! All he needed was some time, _I had thought. Later that night I figured out what was bugging me when I returned home...it seemed like everything in our base had been removed and then put back in nearly the same spot. The entire base looked like it had been shifted a block or two. Certain items appeared to have been left alone, but others had been replaced more clumsily and were obviously out of place. A cold chill had run up my spine as the sudden realization hit me; Rythian didn't trust me. The mage had gone through the entire base, searching for anything I could be hiding or any secret B.A.R.R.Y.-like facilities.

_x X x_

I shook my head vigorously, trying to clear the clinging memories of that moment of truth. Ever since I had realized that I'd been on edge, constantly afraid that the new Rythian would discover that I'd found him out. The hardest part of all of this was figuring out what to do next. Part of me was whispering to just let it slide and go back to the way things were before, living in blissful ignorance. It was a very tempting idea, but then the logical and curious part of my mind took over; I had to find out what that scientist and his apprentice had done to my Rythian. What had they said, what had they _done_, that had turned him against me?

Even now, I could feel the sensation of his eyes on my back as he watched me stare at a heap of scientific contraptions in front of me. He would only search through them himself when I was gone, if I didn't say anything, so I took a deep breath and turned to face him with a smile. It was surprising how easily I could fake the emotions I used to have now. It only showed how badly things had escalated, if I needed to practice enough to fool this new, suspicious Rythian.

"Hey, Rythian, come here!" My tone was just as high and innocent sounding as it had once been.

Swirling purple eyes locked with my emerald green ones and then blinked slowly. At one time he would have looked away immediately if I'd caught him staring at me, a blush visible even through his mask, but now he showed no signs of being caught red-handed. It took him a few seconds to finally move and come see what I wanted.

"What is it, Zoey? I told you that I don't have time for any of your childish "quests" right now."

His words hurt me deeply, but my face betrayed nothing. The old, naïve Zoey would have let the comment roll off her shoulders, because she would know that the old Rythian was just teasing her. I could no longer tell if he was joking or not.

"No, no quests or adventures, I promise! I just thought I'd run my next invention past you and see if you can help at all."

It was a risk throwing the science-deal at him right away, but the old Zoey wouldn't have thought twice about it, so I had to do the same if I didn't want to be caught. I watched him stiffen slightly, but he didn't reply. The intensity of his stare was beginning to make my skin crawl and I had to continue quickly if I didn't want to jeopardize my plan.

"Don't you think it's a little hard on Teep, leaving him to guard this place all by himself?"

"No." His tone had a hint of frost in it, making me wonder if I should continue at all.

"Come on, he's just one dinosaur! One super-skilled, sniper dinosaur, but still just one! I thought I'd build a guard robot. To watch the other side of the base."

"What?" He stepped forward and his eyes narrowed to slits, "Are you saying Teep's not good enough? You want to replace him?"

I flinched away, startled by the intensity of his anger. It was so unlike the Rythian I knew to yell at me...even when he found out about me hiding a science lab under Blackrock Castle, he never yelled. He argued and accused me, but he never raised his voice. Now he was staring at me like he didn't recognize me anymore. He was worse off than I thought, but I could use that to my advantage if things went according to my plan. I hadn't anticipated the sheer amount of his dislike for my idea, but it had been easy to guess his refusal. I could use that to pitch my next idea, making it seem like the lesser of two evils. But first I had to pacify him.

"No, I-I just thought that he could use some help so that he doesn't have to do everything by himself anymore. And...I thought you'd like it if I had a big project to keep me from bothering you." My eyes dropped to me feet, to complete my pitiful statement.

It was easy to drop my voice at the end, to break of the statement as I bit my lip. By now I was so used to the acting that I knew I looked genuine, as I looked back up at him with water-y eyes. Rythian would realize that he had gone far and that he had risked showing that he distrusted me to quickly now. The mage was speechless at first and then he blinked. When his violet eyes opened once again all the suspicion had vanished and he honestly looked like his old self again when he offered me a half-smile of submission. I guess we've both become good at acting.

"How about something to improve his senses, then? Nothing dangerous, just like, super-goggles or something!"

Like old times, I offered to meet him halfway, and like old times he sighed and gave in. When we each turned away to work on our respective projects, I felt hollow. The exchange had felt so real, but I knew that it was all an act we were playing with each other. It was a struggle to keep a smile plastered on my face as I worked for the next few days, on my _real _project. I couldn't just sit by and let our relationship dwindle to nothing, I had to find a way to fix this before Rythian stopped caring about me completely. But I couldn't do anything until I knew what the problem was.

So, when the head-contraption was completed I lied and announced loudly that I needed glowstone before I could finished. Rythian growled at me exasperatedly, but said that we could go get some the next morning. I stayed up later than him that night, pretending to tweak a few last minute parts of my project, and when I heard his breathing deepen and slow, I moved over to him quietly.

Holding the machine carefully, I slipped it over his head as gently as possible. This would show me Rythian's memories and tell me exactly what had happened before Teep and I had rescued him; All I had to do was flip the switch I held in my hand.

"Here goes nothing." I mouthed silently to myself.

_AN: This is an AU by the way, none of the events are canon and they are probably set shortly after Zoey's return from Sick Bay. I've seen story after story about Rythian trying to cope without Zoey, but I don't know if I've ever seen one where Zoey had to learn to live without Rythian's affection. So, I had tried to think of something that would warrant a Rythian who no longer loved Zoey and this is what I came up with._


End file.
